The jury represents the opinion of the common or
ordinary man--the _vox populi_. Twelve men picked at random are
probably neither all capitalists nor all laborers. They are made up
of a few of both, but the majority, if not all, are the small
tradesmen or the great middle class. These men are not ignorant,
prejudiced, or unintelligent. They have a limited experience, but
their judgment is the judgment of mediocrity and mediocrity is what is
wanted. The professional man, the expert, the specialist is needed for
the special degree of administration, but for the determination of the
actual right and justice, what is needed is the instinct of the
ordinary man,--the plain ordinary common sense.
When the criminal says: "I stand a better chance with a jury"; when
the civilian says: "If I had the wrong end of the stick give me a
jury," he is appealing not to the wrong side of the jury system, but
to a quality which is not always recognized.
Law is an exact, definite statement of principles, absolute and
apparently immutable. When a man on the street walks up to another and
wantonly insults him, the law is, that the insulted party must turn
and walk away. If the matter came before a jury they would never
convict him for knocking the other down at once.
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